GULP just entered my first half marathon

Hi Darren, I guess you just have to keep trying the hill and eventually you will get up it, could you get them to move the trees a bit further apart each week?! Blimey 6 miles in 53 sounds fast to me. Mind you i'm guessing you're a man so by the law of nature ought to be quicker.

Hello Foxy, I wonder how many of us ladies had our running launched by R4Ls! I sure did, just wanted to show off at the gym and be able to run all the way. Which i did, in fact they even gave me a job 3 months later! You would never become boring about the Garmin 305, I too have one and it's AWESOME I love seeing how fast i go (or slow!) . Mind you I don't think i use it to it's full potential. I have raced the stick man in a 5k but thats about it so far. Where do you go to for training schedules and stuff?

Saltpot did you have antlers to wear and a brown fur suit for your reindeer run? I was toying with the idea of a Santa suit race but figured i've left Mr T on his own too much lately!

Caz you made me laugh with your hill training plan. Mine is similar, I have stopped trying to avoid them!

Mob, perhaps the clockwise/anticlockwise thing relates to where you are in relation to the equater....like the direction water goes down the plughole or something?

Susie, hope your knee is feeling better, I would rather be finishing in a football stadium for my first half marathon than up Brentwood high street but it all comes down to where you live i guess. Still Ronnie O'Sullivan may be in it, he was at a local charity race a few months ago...my claim to fame, I raced against Ronnie you know! (He won by miles but hes a man and years younger and thinner than me!)

I might see you at Reading then!I'll be near the back soaking up the atmosphere!!Just finishing hopefully in less then 3 hours is my goal.For me Reading is a good HM as there are so many doing it I don't really have to worry about being near the back,however I hope to do another HM in the future and then I'd be aimming to really improve on my time.Do you recommend any HMs? I'd quite like to do the Stroud HM as its very near where I used to live 20 years ago when I smoked,drank and partied too much and so wasn't at all fit!!Would love to go back and run those same roads I'd never dreamed of running then!!

ps hi Julia,my knee is almost back to normal now..just got a bit achy yesterday when i was out Christmas shopping so continued rest until the weekend.

Susiebe, just looking at the Reading HM site and do feel up for it now - sorted out how I'm going to get there storing bags etc. I shall be somewhere near the back too, I'm aiming to do it under 2:10, we shall see. Don't really think it's about the time for me, more being able to get round. Next year I'd hopefully be able to put in more decent times when I am more svelt like lol. You not doing the Wokingham half then? I plumped for that as it's right on my doorstep.

Julia T - I will eventually get up that hill, I may try two trees next. I could only do treadmill training today due to darkness but ran 3 miles constant with a 6% incline (10 minute miles and very boring) without no trouble. For a beginner I feel like I have accomplished a lot already but I need to get up that hill. I tracked it on mapmyrun last night and it is 1.3 miles long and starts at 600 ft and at the peak is 990 ft.

Reading is awesome especially finishing in the Mad Stad. Very well organised- never seen so may portaloos in one place! Altho the jelly baby situation was carnage- none left except dead bodies all over the road! Squelch! Also fun running through the traffic lights where the roads are shut off.

However doing Wokingham this time a) for a change b) because it is before my ski holiday so I will be fit for it and not dreading what if I injur myself. Instead doing the GreenPark challenge with my cubs- 2.4K and same finish, bargain! If I feel fit at the last minute I might try and scam a left over charity place for Reading, a friend of mine did last time.

Julia- Garmin training plans. You can find them here (RW). Go into Training and search on Garmin. There are plans for M, HM and 10K for various times. I did the 10K plan before Highclere (now there's a challenge for Berkshire runners and you folks needing hill training) and it really helped me pick up my pace- all relative though, def no sprint genes in my DNA. Anyway you can download them to Garmin Training Cantre. Only problem I had was, even putting in the right date, it loaded in the wrong place, however it was very easy to move stuff around and I needed to anyway to fit the days I can train. I've never managed to get the stick man to run with me (almost did once) but with the training plans, you go into Advanced workouts and stickman isn't an option there. I use it a lot but still probably not to its full potantial, however I like loading stuff into Sportstracks for mapping. Especially good if you run somewhere different, so I can look at my runs from my holiday in Spain and zoom in on the Villa and the HILLS round there! Sunshine, warmth etc........

Julia - just antlers! (which let me tell you were bloody irritating) and a Rookie Reindeer T shirt - It was a great run - freezing cold but a good atmosphere and the mince pie and hot chocolate at the end were bliss!

In such a grump cos I can't get out - reckon we'll be snowed in tomorrow!

Morning all, still not managed to get out for a run... Anybody would think it was winter with all this white stuff (or rather browny grey slushy stuff) laying on the ground and refusing to go. Grrrrrr!!! Went out for a stability ball class last night and decided to head back home straight afterwards as I'd seen my next door neighbour struggle to get into their drive and Mr CS had had such awful bother getting into ours that I thought it best not to leave it too late.

LOL Foxy Lady dead bodies at the jelly baby station... Have read that jelly babies or jelly beans are meant to be good for energy, unfortunately mine dont seem to make it past the front door before I've scoffed them...

Saltpot - Hmmmmmm wonder what that could be with out hips, possibly an age thing???? I'm late 30's... Didn't think I was THAT old yet that aches & pains would be settling in when the weather turns a bit sour. Mmmmmmm hot chocolate... Well worth the run in my opinion, I fancy doing something like that but I'm sure the Leeds Santa Dash falls when I'm already busy busy busy with pre-christmas stuff.

Darren - 3miles on 6% incline... Bloody hell!!!!! You are much further along in your hill training than me. Have arranged with Mr CS that I will run home from the supermarket on Saturday, obviously he will take the shopping home in the car as its a bit much to expect me to run laden down with carrier bags, and if I head down towards the back road then I get a nice steep 1/2mile or so hill to run up after a nice steady flat bit. Figured I'd try a different hill to see if that made any difference... Worth a try eh???

Went for my last pre-Grim 8 run this morning. Was meant to be 3 miles steady according to the Garmin God however after a couple of poor night's sleep with poorly boys I just chilled and tried to enjoy it and not worry about the pace.

The rain had stopped down south and the sun shone and I went for a run around my local country park. Sadly this is a landfilled gravel pit so drainage is not its strong point. At a couple of points I nearly lost my trainers, then I was almost eaten by an out of control Alsation who's owner could not catch it and I ended up standing around for about 5 minutes while it barked, circled round and threatened me and she uselessly called it and told me it wouldn't harm me "She's just scared!" Yeh right. Eventually some other dog walkers hove into view and with witnesses around I just sprinted for Freedom and right up to my knees in "puddles" so good practice for Saturday then!

Now I just have to try and get my mank trainers dry for Saturday, they were actually quite clean once I had finished.

Happy running this weekend everyone, hope it thaws out for you frozen runners further north.

FoxyLady, I used to run around Dinton Pastures which is a filled in gravel pit and I gave up on that one because of all the dogs, they were a real pain and their owners were not any better - safer on the roads if you ask me.

Just mapped a course out on mapmyrun of 8 mile, think it'll be a really slooooow one though to ensure I get round - but these forums are really good for motivation.

Susiebe. Re supplies for RHM- depends on how fast you think you will be. There was plenty of water when I did it but the Lucozade and official and spectator jelly beans had all gone. I took my own and shared them with a 10ft high nurse I ended up running with a lot.

MTP. I run over to and round DP quite a lot but it also gets very soggy this time of year, but never had dog trouble there yet. Did get a bit lost my first few times so ended up cycling it until I got to know the various tracks and turnings, all a bit of a maze.

I have a nice road 8 miler roundCharvil/Twyford/Wargrave that I like to do (also gets submerged in places, the joys of living near the flood plane) and I can crank it up to 10 or 11 with judicious adding of bits of Sonning. Let me know if you are interested I could give you the details. Last New Year's Day I did my then longest run from Charvil to Wokingham to my in-laws for lunch. This year I should be doing 10 miles that day so will have to go the long way round. Mind you last year was pre-Garmin precision measurement so had to Google earth to measure the route.

Thankyou for the info Foxy, I'll let you know how i get on............I raced the stick man by going on the Garmin menus : training, then workouts then quick.I then picked what i wanted, eg dist and time - 3.11miles in 32 mins then, done. Then press start and scroll through to find him. Highly entertaining, I may try and do a sub 30 min 5k on my next run. Short and fast as the weather is so cold

You mean you actually get out of the shop without ripping open the jelly baby bag? Although i prefer toffee myself, just have to watch the fillings. Have got to go to the dentist for a checkup tomorrow as it happens. Gulp

Darren well done on the treadmill run, just one thought, have you tried going really really really slowly up the hill? I've discovered that if i keep my speed down i can go much further and hillier than i would expect to be able to. Although of course that doesn't do much for my speed! Good for the old lung capacity tho'.

We've been computerised at work (Curves ladies only gym) so now all our machines flash lights if we're not going fast enough. Making a BIG difference to my workouts and even better, i've had to take my resting heartrate which is 47. WOW I do believe that is scarily good! Hurrah Looks around modestly !

Good luck to you all running in the snow. We just have wet coldness here in Essex.

Hi Julia- Not eating Jelly babies at the moment- trying to lose weight to see if it will speed me up. Lost nearly a stone last year once I started running seriously and training for the HM and then some of it crept back on again post HM and I run less in the summer but kept eating the same. Since our holiday at half term have now lost 6lbs and trying to lose at least another half a stone to see if it has any impact on pace. Theoretically should take about a minute or two of HM time- WOW! Obviously worth the deprivation!

Don't go to the gym anymore. Used to belong to a really posh one called Nirvana (MTP may have heard of it) but having 2 little cubs rendered time required obsolete. Only really have time to run now because both are at school now and I work part-time. Running did motivate me to teach No2 to ride his bike so I could run while he peddled! NO 1 likes to run with me sometimes but moans I go to fast; sometimes I do my easy runs with MR FL but his pace is limited so I quite often run backwards. On the upside I can talk to (at!) him and he can't answer back because he is too puffed out!

Well done on the 6lbs Julia, I have found there is a definite correlation between weight loss and an increase in pace. Once I started to up the milage over 20 / week I started to lose weight quite easily without having to really watch what I eat (or drink)!

FL, poor old Mr FL, can't think of anything worse that being spoken at whilst out of puff - some kind of torture I'd say. Yes I do know Nirvana but it is waaaaay too posh for me. By all means forward details of the sonning run - nice around there. I have one in mind I intend to do this weekend (9 mile) from Twyford to Wargrave and around Crazies hill - on the basis that hills are supposed to be good for you. Mrs MTB has offered to buy loads of beers and nosh afterwards if I make it - good incentive eh?

MTP- the 8 miler is a loop along the Old Bath Road from the A4, through Twyford, back up to the A4, cross over at Wyevale and head away from Reading. Just past Wyevale turn left up Tag lane. At a T junction by Yelldall Manor, turn left towards Wargrave. Head down Victoria Road, straight on towards the traffic lights. Turn left along Twyford Rd, then right down towards the station. At the end of the road turn right. This next bit is a combination of mostly public right of way with a bit of private road. Despite the signs no one has ever stopped me in a year of running it. Along here it can go under water at times! Follow the road back until you are back to the A4, turn right towards Charvil, cross at the Ped crossing and head back down Park View Drive South. That's a little under 8 miles, if you go up as far as the Wee Waif roundabout to rejoin the A3032, that's def. 8 miles. For a longer route, head along the A4, turn right down Charvil Lane into Sonning (No pavement for a bit here), then run back up Pound Lane and down the A4, and another add on to about 11 miles, is to cross the A4 from Pound Lane into Butts Hill Road, then head off left past Sonning Golf club and back through Woodley.

Enjoy- I may see you doing it one Sunday while my kids are at rugby.

Last post before the Grim; if I should drown think only this of me......

Apologies everyone else if this is a tad boring, but if you're ever in Berkshire you now have somewhere to run!

Julia - I don't care about the speed one way or another I will get up my hill, I will take your advice and try to go even more slowly. It is that time of year when getting outside is difficult I will attempt my long run tomorrow around 8 miles and that leaves Sunday which will only be a recovery run. Last night I tried something different in training there is a steep incline (which is quite well lite) but very short after a mile slow jog I sprinted up and then walked down, I repeated this on several occassions. I hope this will help me.

Good afternoon everyone, off out for dinner tonight for father-in-laws birthday. Will try and keep a tight rein on my eating, on the plus side, i'm driving so no alcohol. Foxy, good luck at the Grim, sounds really grim to me!!!!! I think we should go quicker if we're thinner, i'm 12stone 13 so if i could just knock off another couple of stone i reckon i'll be zooming. Alternatively i could stand in fertilizer and try and grow 6". That would help Not sure i could run backwards without tripping over, but i shall have to think of a way to get Mr T out of puff so i can talk at him !

Beer sounds a good incentive MtP, i read that it is a good aid to recovery too. Although they may have meant only 1.

Darren good luck with the hills. I have got one of my marathon training books now, they talk about heartrate quite a lot, i'll pass on anything useful as i come across it.

Saturday night and i'm typing on a message board I promise that I have a fun life.

Meant to do 8 miles today but it was such a glorious day (SUNSHINE) I ended up going quite a bit further (11.85 accordin to mapmyrun) only stopping for water, cars, and ramblers that are definately lost now (after asking me for directions) have they been reported on the news as missing yet?

I chickened out of my hill, I must try this new running backwards style will it fell like I'm running downhill.

I do have a question for you all do you use your training plans as written (near enough) or if you are feeling good do a bit extra or feeling bad -less. with fifteen weeks to my race woud you start from the beginning again or keep around the 8 - 10 weeks plan untill tapering.

Hi Darren, I merrily tweak my training plans to suit me. I make sure I get in during a week what they suggest, but often swop days around. If I am feeling good I do more, and up the ante a bit, if not so good I do the minimum it says. I would keep where you are for a bit, most training plans have a cycle where every fourth week is a bit easier, so make sure you allow for that and give your body a break every so often. At least you have plenty of time so if you get ill/ injured you have lots of time to R&R. Crank it up per plan for the last few weeks.

Running backwards- sure I read somehting in RW last year about it being a good training technique....

There was also an acticle about short sharp hill bursts being as good as any other hill training, so that might help. I live on a hill (sort of, Thames Valley doesn't really have many) and I do hill repeats when insanity takes me. Each one takes 40-45 secs, then I recover on the way back down and do it all again, up to 10 times, before someone needs to call an ambulance. Keeps the neighbours amused!

The Grim 8: (actually 8.65m according to Garmin) Obviously I have survived! Best organised run I have ever done. Such a laugh. Put the Fun back into Run! Cold ,wet and gruesomely muddy, but a great atmosphere and lovely off-road experience. Would def. do it again. MTP- put it in your diary for next year. Only about 30 mins from here. It helped that the sun shone and I'm glad I'm not doing it today (so popular they run it on 2 consecutive days, yes really!) as I imagine it would be a case of first one in breaks the ice this morning.Not one for a PB- I did an average11min miles but know someone who reckons it took him the time he usually does 10 miles in so don't feel remotely bad. It was actually really nice to run and not be worried about the time.

If you're out there today, be careful- VERY slippery.

Julia- hope you had a good evening- we partied at my Dad's last night- he was celebreating his house's 45th b'day- any excuse eh! Strangely had no desire to drink so haven't blown the diet and Garmin claimed Grim= 800 cals!

FL thanks for the route, looked it up on MapMy Route and I shall have to give it a whirl. Well done on the Grim 8, I will try that next year - sounds tough but a lot of fun.

JT, I have lost a stone but need to lose another stone and a half which aint gong to be easy. I have managed to up the mileage to 30 / weeek so am hoping that this will help - your right on the beer issue though, that's the little vice I am cutting down on, I stoppped the smoking fairly easily several months ago though so not done too bad there.

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